(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the combination of a container and a dispenser compartment therein and therefor, by means of which a user can prepare a fresh solution or suspension of two or more ingredients and can readily dispense the same.
(ii) Description of the Prior Art
Many drugs, dyes and other chemicals are frequently supplied in powder or crystal form and do not retain their stability, strength and effectiveness for long after they have been mixed in solution or suspension, a condition frequently necessary for their administration or other use. Thus, for example, it is desirable to keep drugs, e.g. penicillin or novocain, dry and to admix them with the solvent immediately before use. Likewise, it is important to keep certain synthetic resins and their curing catalysts separate until immediately before use in order to prevent premature curing. It is also important that admixtures of various chemicals be done under conditions wherein a measured amount of one chemical be added to a measured amount of the other chemical to insure that proper results are obtained with a minimum of waste.
In preparing carbonated beverages, it is well known that many syrups, are sensitive to acid and react in the presence of carbonic acid during extended storage periods. Accordingly, it has been the practice to mix such acid-sensitive syrups with carbonated water immediately prior to consumption at restaurants and soda fountains.
There are also many examples of materials or substances which have an extended shelf life when not mixed, but which must be utilized relatively soon after mixture to prevent deterioration. Various cosmetics, medications, hair dyes, pigments, epoxy adhesives, polishes, cleansing solutions and the like have the foregoing characteristics. For example, conventional hair dyes employ a base material, e.g. a peroxide solution or the like, with which a pigmented material or solution is mixed for immediate application on the hair. The color is determined by the make-up of the pigmented solution. If the pigmented material is mixed with the base and allowed to stand, the mixture may rapidly deteriorate and thus become unusable.
Another example is that of dental materials which are composed of items requiring separation until immediately prior to mixing and use. Such items include, particularly, materials known as "silicates" in which a dry silicate type material is mixed with a liquid agent, and in which resins of various types are contained. When mixed and activated with a liquid, the silicate materials and resins undergo a chemical change in a very short time and set into a hard, nearly indestructible, mass. Such materials are used for filling teeth and are very effective and relatively easy to apply, but cause problems in the necessity of accurate proportioning and mixing under normal circumstances.
Yet another example is in the merchandising of certain products, where it is frequently desirable to supply two companion products to the consumer in a single package. Thus, many products are, by their very nature, required to be used by the consumer shortly after their manufacture as they lose certain desirable characteristics within a short period of time. Yet, the product can be stored for extended periods of time if a reactive compound thereof is maintained separate from the base compound. In such case, the two compounds may be mixed together to form the desired product shortly before use. In marketing such goods, it obviously is desirable that the reactive compound and the base compound be sold as part of the same package. From an aesthetic as well as a handling standpoint, it is desirable that but a single package be utilized for maintaining such compounds separated.
In the chemical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries it is often necessary to store separately two products which are not to be mixed until just before the resulting mixture is to be used because the properties of that mixture are not acceptable for the application envisaged except at the moment at which the mixture is formed. The stability and viscosity of the mixture, for example, are among the properties which may vary in the course of time and may therefore have values which are acceptable from the point of view of the use of the mixture only during a brief period determined by prior experience and usually beginning at the time the mixture is formed.
In a practical way of providing such desired results, containers have been provided having two compartments in which two ingredients of a product may be stored separately until it is desired to mix them, at which time it is possible to establish communication between the compartments so that the separated ingredients may move from one compartment to the other.
It is known in the art to provide dispensers containing a concentrate of soluble materials to a fixed quantity of solute, usually water, for dispensing as a spray upon an object to be treated. Thus, the prior art teaches containers for beverages wherein the interior of the container is divided into a compartment having a basic ingredient and a compartment which can be ruptured so as to mix, within the container the basic ingredient and some form of modifier or flavouring. The basic reason for this prior art container is to provide the mixing action at the time of consumption since prior mixing would have adverse effects. The basic ingredient is not usually suitable for consumption and requires mixing with the modifier prior to consumption.
In one such device, the neck of the container is externally threaded and is closed by a cap provided with an internally threaded skirt extending toward the bottom of the container. The cap has a recess in its inner annular surface opposite the neck of the container which may be closed by a capsule having a projecting part in the form of an elastic collar the external dimensions of which are greater than the internal dimensions of the neck of the container. The container is filled with a first product, generally liquid, and the cap, turned upside down, is filled with at least one additional liquid or pulverulent product. After closing the cap by screwing the cap thereonto the collar of the capsule deforms as the central part of the cap passes along the neck of the container. This deformation is of course such that the collar assumes a generally curved-shape which is concave toward the cap.
After complete screwing of the cap onto the neck of the container the collar of the capsule is not then subjected to any constraint and because it is not then subjected to any constraint it returns to its original configuration, which is substantially flat and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the neck of the container. The two products stored in the container and in the cap are then completely separated from each other. At the moment that the desired mixture is prepared, the cap is unscrewed, which has the effect of bringing the collar of the capsule again into contact with the neck of the container. If one continues to unscrew the cap the collar engages the neck of the container and catches at this point so that the capsule closing the cap is held at the bottom of the neck of the container while the cap continues to move upwardly. The capsule is progressively released from the cap and then, after total liberation, drops into the container which has the effect of permitting the additional product to drop into the container and mix with the product originally stored therein.
Thus, as disclosed above, the concentrate is contained within a threaded cap which is ruptured as the cap is threadedly engaged upon the container containing the solute, permitting the contents to fall into the solute for mixing.
While such prior art containers were useful and generally provided a solution to some of the problems above outlined, considerable effort has been expended in providing improvements thereon. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,859,898, patented Nov. 11, 1958 by Ivan L. Mendenhall, provided the combination of a container and a cap adapted to hold a substance for admixture with the contents of the container and to serve as a dispenser for the admixture. The container had a hollow, externally-threaded end and a sealing film at the top of that threaded end. The cap was provided with an internally threaded skirt and end wall, a shorter inner wall concentric with the skirt and terminated in the end wall defining a reservoir for holding a substance to be mixed with material in the container. A sharp, film-cutting element was provided at the end of the inner wall in sealing engagement with the sealing film, so that material in the reservoir cannot spill. An opening was provided in the end wall concentric with the skirt and was of lesser diameter than the inner wall for dispensing material after admixture of the substance in the cap with the contents of the container. A closure was also provided for closing the opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,305,368, patented Feb. 21, 1967 by Joseph G. Bourelle, provided a sealed compartmented container having a top wall and a compartment wall underlying and spaced adjacent to the top wall. This patentee provided a sealed, compartmented beverage container having a side wall, a bottom wall, and a continuous top wall having its periphery crimped over the top edge of the side wall in fixed engagement and extending in planar relationship between the crimped periphery. A readily-rupturable compartment wall member underlay the top wall, generally coextensive therewith and divided the interior of the container into an upper compartment thereabove containing acid-sensitive syrup and a lower compartment therebelow containing carbonated water. The compartment wall member provided a substantially gas and moisture-impermeable seal for the syrup therein and isolated the syrup from the carbonated water. The compartment wall member had a bottom wall portion and a side wall portion and was sealingly engaged at its upper end with the top wall to define the upper compartment. The bottom wall portion was spaced from the top wall a distance less than the length of the blade of a common can opener so as to be rupturable during puncturing of the top wall by a common can opener engaged with the crimper periphery of the top wall portion to permit the syrup to flow into and mix with the carbonated water.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,403, patented Jan. 11, 1966 by D. Lehrman, provided a pair of containers, one within the other. The patentee provided a container comprising an inner vessel, an outer vessel, and means for mounting the inner vessel completely within the outer vessel. The inner and outer vessels had caps and cap-receiving neck portions. The cap-receiving neck portion of the inner vessel was substantially smaller than the cap-receiving neck portion of the outer vessel, and the inner vessel was smaller than, and completely contained inside of, the outer vessel. The means for mounting the inner vessel within the outer vessel included an adapter having an upright portion within the outer vessel and a radially-outwardly-extending flange at the upper end of the upright portion. The adapter was removably attached to the outer vessel by engagement between the flange and the cap-receiving neck portion of the outer vessel. Such engagement supported the adapter within the outer vessel. The upright portion of the adapter contained at its lower end, a radially-inwardly-extending flange which was smaller than the outer periphery of the cap of the inner vessel. That flange was removably attached to the inner vessel by engagement with the bottom horizontal surface of the cap. In that way, the inner container was supported completely within the outer container.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,410, patented Oct. 17, 1967 by Gilbert Schwartzman, provided an applicator for use with a container provided with a neck having an open end and having a first substance disposed therein. The applicator included a retainer ring having a projecting portion for reception in the neck, and a portion overlying the open end. The applicator further included an outer fitting detachably engaging the outer surface of the neck. The applicator head had openings therethrough. A resilient bellows was integral with the applicator head and the fitting and connected the fitting to the applicator head. The projecting portion was provided at its lowermost end with sealing means to hold a second substance within the retainer ring. A stem was integrally formed with and depended from the applicator head and was engageable with the sealing means upon depression of the applicator head and bellows to open the sealing means to permit the second substance to mix with the first substance. The bellows normally urged the stem away from the sealing means.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,598, patented Feb. 4, 1969 by Gerald Kobernick, attempted to provide a solution to certain problems relating to the viscosity of the liquid used, and its tendency to adhere to the chamber in which it was stored, and to solve the problem of severing a membrane separating two cavities. This problem was said to be solved by such patentee in a device for prepackaging dental materials utilizing a liquid and a powder. The device included a chamber closed at one end and open at the other end and containing powder. A collar was provided having a restricted opening. Means were provided for attaching the collar to the open end of the chamber. A packet of liquid was sealed in a rupturable membrane and had a flange about its perimeter, the membrane being positioned in the opening with the flange resting on the collar. A cap was detachably attached over the collar. Rupturing means and motion limiting means were provided which included a disk carried by the rupturing means depending from the interior of the cap. Upon partial sliding movement of the cap with respect to the collar, the rupturing and motion limiting means ruptured the membrane, thus causing the liquid therein to empty into the chamber. The disk limited the movement of the cap and held the flange against the collar to insure that the disk and membrane would not be forced into the chamber during the rupturing process.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,076 patented Jul. 29, 1969 by Dudley S. Babcock, provided a multicompartment package including an outer container having an annular ledge adjacent its upper end. An inner container was telescoped within the outer container, the inner container having a radially-outwardly-extending annular bead sized to overlie the annular ledge and resting thereon. Either the annular ledge or the annular bead was deformable to permit the annular bead to be urged past the annular ledge to the interior of the outer container. Closure means engaged the upper end of the outer container for closing the package.
U S. Pat. No. 3,305,368, patented Feb. 21, 1967 by J. G. Bourelle provided a beverage container including a structure which divided the interior of a can into a compartment for a basic ingredient and a compartment, co-extensive with and underlying the top of the can, for a flavouring syrup. Rupturing of the top of the can with an ordinary can opener also ruptured the bottom of the underlying compartment to cause mixing of the contents of the two compartments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,520, patented Jul. 3, 1973 by Jerome T. Croner, attempted to solve the problem where the construction of the container was such that removal of the ingredients of the container was restricted and the entire contents difficult to remove. In the patented invention, a beverage container was provided having a bottom, side, and top walls, and a rupturable compartment for a modifying ingredient which underlay only a portion of the container top so that the top can be selectively ruptured to provide access to only the basic beverage, the underlying compartment, or both. By provided side walls to the underlying compartment, several compartment sections can be provided, each with a different modifying ingredient. The top of the container was provided with suitable markings to indicate the location and contents of the sections. By suitable construction of the underlying compartment, the bottom wall portion of the compartment, or certain ones of the sections, can be spaced differently from the top wall of the container. The rupturing of the top of the container and underlying compartment or section by a can opener, may or may not rupture the bottom of the container or section. Thus, mixing of the basic beverage and modifying ingredients of the compartment or section can take place within the container or in another receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,125, patented Jun. 24, 1975 to Bruno Morane et al, provided a device for storing two products separately which purported to solve the problem in a device which had the inherent disadvantage with respect to the structure of one of its components, specifically, the collar of the capsule. The patentee provided an improved device for storing and dispensing a mixture of a first product and at least one additional product. The device included a container for holding the first product, the container being provided with a neck. A hollow, spout-shaped dispensing cap defined a recess for holding at least one additional product, the cap being provided at one end with a skirt adapted to fit onto the outside of the neck, with an annular surface between the skirt and the edge of the recess, and with integral means at its other end adapted to create a dispensing orifice when removed from the cap. A capsule was provided which acted as a closure for the recess when the capsule was located therein, the capsule having a first end which was a force fit in the recess and a second end provided with a supporting flange which projected radially outward therefrom. A cup was provided having sides adapted to be received in the neck and a bottom defining an opening through which the first end of the capsule projected into the recess, so that the bottom of the cup was gripped between the supporting flange on the capsule and the annular surface on the cap. The outer diameter of the capsule was less than that of the opening in the bottom of the cup so that the capsule was slidable with respect to the opening and the outer diameter of the supporting flange was greater than the diameter of the opening in the bottom of the cup but less than the inner diameter of the sides of the cup. Means were provided for frictionally retaining the sides of the cup in the neck of the container. When the cap was moved away from the container along the neck, the capsule was prevented by the flanges from being removed with the cap, but was instead separated from the cap so as to be free to fall into the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,741, patented Dec. 9, 1975 by Nicholas W. Kachur provided a two-compartment container for separate storage of two ingredients of a product for eventual mixing. The container comprised a bottle having a cylindrical neck on which a stopper and a capsule assembly was mounted and was secured thereto by conventional means, e.g. screw threads, or a bayonet joint, or by a "snap-on" interference fit. The stopper comprised a tubular sleeve which extended downwardly through the bottle neck and terminated in a transverse wall which closed the lower end of the sleeve. The tubular wall of the lower portion of the sleeve adjacent the transverse wall had a plurality of apertures extending therethrough. A tubular capsule was slidably mounted within the tubular sleeve to move between upper and lower terminal positions. In the lower terminal position of the capsule, the lower portion of the tubular wall of the capsule closed and sealed the apertures. Also, the tubular wall terminated in a circular rim which seated against the transverse wall of the sleeve to seal the lower end of the capsule. Thus, in the lower terminal position of the capsule, the contents of the capsule were effectively separated from the contents of the bottle. When the capsule was moved to its upper terminal position, however, the apertures in the sleeve were opened and the contents of the capsules were permitted to fall int the bottle. A closure cap was mounted on the upper end of the capsule and may be secured thereto in any suitable manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,865, patented Feb. 17, 1991 by C. Michael Jurowitz, provided a push button cap containing an additive for containers which attempted to solve certain problems of the prior art. One such problem was the inability of the use to determine when rupture had occurred. Should the concentrate be of the same color as the solute, the user had no way of knowing that the concentrate has become released and dissolved or mixed with the solute without removing the charging device from the container. Another problem lay in the fact that the point at which rupture of the capsule occurred depended upon the engagement of the capsule with portions of the threaded container which did not effect a sealing relationship between the cap and the container. Thus, it was possible to have the capsule rupture before the cap was completely engaged upon the neck of the container. If, at that point, the container was shaken, or otherwise manipulated for mixing, leakage of the contents of the container may occur. The patented device which was intended to solve such problem included the combination of a container having a threaded neck forming an opening communicating with the interior of the container and a liquid dispensing element including an outer cap having a planar end wall having a central opening therethrough, and a cylindrical internally threaded side wall. A capsule element was provided having a first lower member and a second upper member slidably engaged therewith. The first lower member included a cylindrical side wall having a radially extending flange at an upper end thereof forming a seal between the threaded neck of the container and the outer cap, and a lower wall frangibly interconnected to the last-mentioned cylindrical side wall at a lower end thereof. The second upper member included an upper wall and a cylindrical hollow shank having a principal axis perpendicular to the plane of the upper wall and penetrating the opening in the planar end wall of the cap, the shank having a lower free edge overlying an area of frangible interconnection between the lower wall and the cylindrical side wall of the second upper member. The capsule element was positioned within the cap such that the upper wall of the second upper member contacted the upper end wall of the cap, engagement of the cap with the threaded neck of the container serving to elevate the capsule element relative to the cap and to move the upper wall of the second upper member into spaced relation relative to the planar end wall. Downward pressure exerted upon the upper wall served to cause movement of the shank relative to the lower wall of the first lower member to sever the frangible interconnection between the lower wall and the cylindrical side wall.
Even with the many alleged improvements to the containers as described above, it is often very messy to mix these solutions together using separate containers. Accordingly, it would be desirable to overcome these difficulties by providing a unitary storage and mixing facility, especially to overcome difficulties in storage which have limited the packaging of beverages for facile home or shop use.